if you walk a lonely road (know that you are not alone)
by Wandering-Mind 95
Summary: Hope realizes there are only two people that can destroy Malivore. She is ready to sacrifice herself if it means her brother can live. Even if it means he won't remember her. Harry knows something is missing and he won't rest until he has his memories back and Hope by his side. You can't get out of Always and Forever by jumping into a memory-erasing monster. Ashes Series Future!AU
1. loopholes were made to be broken

Full Summary: Hope realizes there are only two people that can destroy Malivore. She is ready to sacrifice herself if it means her brother can live. Even if it means he won't remember her.  
Harry knows something is wrong, a sister-sized hole missing from his life and he won't rest until he has his memories back and Hope by his side.  
You can't get out of Always and Forever by jumping into a memory-erasing monster. Mikaelson's fight for each other, even if they can't remember who it is they're fighting for

**To start, yes I know as a tribrid, Harry wouldn't lose his memories (I have an alternative I'm working on where he doesn't lose his memories of Hope) but I love to drown in angst and the words practically wrote themselves after watching Episode 7: It Will All Be Painfully Clean Soon Enough**  
**This is a Future!AU Verse so will not be happening in We're Trying to Belong.**

* * *

Hope calls Alaric to pack away all her stuff and burn her records. It was hard, one of the hardest conversations she had ever had. But she knew this next one would test her resolve.

Squeezing her eyes shut, willing her voice to be steady, she pressed the call button. It picked up on the second ring, Hope choking out a breath she wasn't sure was in relief or regret.

"What mystical lost creature are you hunting now? Or did you just miss hearing your big brother's voice?" the lightly accented voice teased through the phone. Hope had to throw her hand over her mouth to stop the choked sob that threatened to give her away. It wasn't quick enough to escape Harry's vampire hearing. "Hope?"

Worry tinged his voice and Hope remembered the last time she had heard her brother like this and she hated herself that she was going to hurt him even more.

She bit her lip, trying to put on a strong front as she willed her voice to steady.

"I love you." She pursed her lips together immediately after to stop any other sound from escaping.

Why did that sound like a goodbye!? Why was Hope saying goodbye!?

"Hope! Tell me what's happening! Where are you?" he demanded, voice raised as he realized the gravity of the situation, playful teasing long gone.

Hope found her voice the second time, "I love you but I'm not sorry. This is the only way to stop the monster and protect you. I finally know why we were born and you've already given up so much. You deserve to be remembered and loved." She looked down into the boiling pit of Malivore, eyebrows coming together as her face reflected her inner turmoil.

She heard the sounds of objects crashing on the other end of the line but she kept her focus on the steaming pit in front of her.

"Dammit, Hope! Think about this!"

"I have and it's the only way."

"Tell me where you are and we'll fight Malivore together! If you jump in there – you don't even know if it'll work!"

Of course, he had figured it out. He was the one to teach her growing up.

"I can't. Because if it's not me, it's you, and I can't let that happen. My entire life, you've always been the one to save me. Just this once, let me save you."

Her time was running out. If she didn't do it soon, there would be nothing to jump into.

"Isn't family so complicated? This grand heroic gesture of love; sacrificing yourself for your love and your brother. Can you imagine the agony he'll be in when he realizes you've been erased from his memories? First his parents, then your father, and now you…he won't survive."

She doesn't want to believe Clark, trying desperately to remind herself that he is trying to stop her from jumping. He would say anything to stall for time…but she knew he had hit the nail on the head. Harry's voice ringing through her mind, _"Don't leave me alone."_

Clark opens his mouth, glee reflecting in his eyes as a cruel smile makes its way across his face, ready to taunt her again, "I hate my father – I'm terrified of him – so if you're right about this loophole – can actually kill the bastard once and for all – I'll be rooting for you. And if you're wrong…well, you'll be dead."

They had followed each other around the platform like predators until they stopped, coincidently enough, right over the pit.

"_Imitantor Pupulus_," Hope casts the spell, expression like stone, determination set. She would do this and she would take the one responsible for all of this with her.

Clark scoffs when nothing happened. Hope sends him her own cruel smile as she slaps her hand over her mouth as he goes to speak, Clark mimicking her. His eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in anger, hate shining through clearly.

Hope slowly lowers her hand from her mouth, Clarke forced to do the same.

"How'd you do that? Why did I do that?!"

Beneath them, the mud pit boiled and burst, steam rising as Malivore prepared to gain physical form. Hope knew she had to act soon.

"It's a basic mimic spell, my brother taught it to me when I was in second grade," raising an eyebrow up challenging, almost mockingly, Hope stepped up onto the railing, "See, there's one thing I learned from my family: know your enemy. You, you're a threat to Landon, to everyone I care about. So yeah, I'll enjoy this."

Clarke mimicked her movement, his face contorting in anger and fear as his eyes flickered to the pit that was his father. "You don't have to do this."

There was barely an expression on her face, pushing down all her emotions to do this one thing, briefly wondering if this was what her father felt when he sacrificed himself for her.

"I do," she spoke, voice raw and empty as she took another step, hand shooting out to grip Clarke's neck, his doing the same, "But at least I'll enjoy this."

She pushed off with her left foot, tipping them over the edge, nothing but darkness and fear staring up at her as they descended into the pit, her last thoughts before she hit the muddy pit being fear and not wanting to be forgotten.

And then there was nothing.

* * *

Harry is desperate when the phone call suddenly ends but not before he heard another voice on the other end. He hurries to do a tracking spell so he could apparate to Hope before she erased herself out of existence. It was easy to connect the dots when she started her farewell. She'd only been texting him the last few weeks about Malivore and how monsters that had been erased from the collective conscious were attacking the school. He knew what she was planning because it was exactly what he would do.

In his desperation, knowing he didn't have long if she was to be erased from his memories, he scrawled across the parchment with the locator spell, Find Hope!

He just needed the coordinates, he just needed to know where to go and he could be there! He just needed more time!

There!

She's somewhere near the edge of Fort Valley, Georgia!

Harry closed his green eyes, focusing on Hope and their connection, using it as a guiding point to apparate.

A second passed and then another. The moment of a single heartbeat before another. The time it took to inhale and then exhale.

He opened his eyes, confused as to why they were closed in the first place. His mind drawing a blank on why he was about to apparate. Furrowed eyes glance about the mess of a room, wondering why it looked like a gaggle of pixies had been let loose in here.

His hands feather through the loose pieces of papers, trying to piece together what he might've been doing before his memory suddenly blanked.

Harry pulled the topmost paper closer for inspection, noting it was a tracking spell. He rotated the paper when he noticed something scribbled hastily. It was definitely his handwriting but he had no recollection of writing it or for that matter, what it meant.

_FIND HOPE!_

What did that mean?

Why did he need hope? Or was hope a person? Why did it feel like he was missing something?

The only way to find answers was to apparate to Fort Valley, Georgia.

He appears outside a heavily guarded facility. It isn't that hard to get inside, most of the guards are dead or unconscious, another thing that increases his paranoia. He doesn't know what he is looking for but he can feel the magic in the air, the ozone is thick so he follows it.

There is no human sound in the facility beyond a beeping of alarms. He continues to follow the pull of magic, noting that there was no physical damage to the facility. The people knocked unconscious seemed to have been taken out quickly, likely snuck up on.

His unease continues to rise. Either the person who did this knew the facility or was powerful.

He comes to a secured room that looks like it could hide something incredibly secretive. So naturally, he blasts it open and strides in. He had learned from his father that sometimes dramatic entrances were the best distractions.

Speeding into the secured room, Harry narrows his eyes before they widen at the state of the vault-like room, hands coming to rest on the railing that led to the floor.

He is amazed at the destruction in the room, a crater size hole missing from the floor. That must have been the cause of the ozone that permeated the area.

Groaning draws his attention and he finds a boy, a familiar boy that he can't place.

He jumps down to the boy, frightening him as he scrambles back until his back hits the wall.

"I'm not here to hurt you." This does little to calm the kid but Harry wasn't here to be nice. "What happened here?"

The kid was jumpy – Harry was reminded a little of Neville – his eyes wide as he took in his surroundings.

"Hell if I know! Malivore's just gone."

Malivore. Now that sounded familiar but once again he didn't know why.

"Malivore – apparently my father! – he devours monsters and the whole world forgets about them."

The world freezes, his lungs deflating at the sudden thought, the cold terror at what that could mean.

The map, the note…it all made sense! Desperately grabbing at his phone, he clicks open the call history, thumb shaking uncontrollably, and right there, only minutes old was a call from Hope. Hope was a person, someone important enough that they called him as their last goodbye.

"Can you call someone to pick you up?" Harry doesn't wait for an answer, jumping into the crater to see what he could find, see if there was any evidence of this Hope.

"Yea…Wait! What're you doing!?" the kid yells down to him.

"Looking for answers." Harry moved his hands along the earth walls, feeling the fleeting magic of something powerful. It was powerful magic, the most powerful he had felt in years. It was potent earth magic but there wasn't enough to get a proper grasp on the exact properties. The magic was dissipating too fast.

Landon looks at the strange man that had suddenly appeared, wondering if he was friend or foe before hurrying to call Dr. Saltzman.

Harry froze when he heard that name. This was one of the Salvatore School kids?

He jumps back to the kid, demanding the phone, hand held out as his eyes dared the kid to refuse him.

It was a tense moment before Landon hesitantly hands the phone over, not wanting the man to kill him…well, that was kinda dumb seeing as he couldn't be killed, but still!

"Alaric," it is curt and harsh, not at all how Harry is usually mannered but this is an extenuating circumstance. He could be forgiven his lack of manners.

"Harry?" came Alaric's confused and surprised response at hearing the voice of the boy, well man, that he had been acquainted with over the years, wondering why and how he was with Landon.

"What do you know of Malivore? I need all your information." He turns his gaze back to where Malivore use to reside.

Alaric explained that there's not much, if any information, other than it erases the collective memory of all those who are devoured and that it had been sending monsters to collect objects for the last few weeks.

Somehow, Harry knew he already knew this information which couldn't be true as this was the first time he was hearing about Malivore.

But not if Hope was involved and told him about this. Putting him on speaker, Harry pulled his phone out, going to his messages and seeing the name Hope once again. He pulled up the messages and saw how personal they were, how casual he had been with her. It was when he scrolled a little further that the devastation really hit: Hope was his sister. He had a sister that he couldn't remember!

Chest rising and falling as he tried to regain control of his emotions, Harry knew he couldn't lose control here – not if he wanted answers.

"Is there a spell to retrieve memories lost to Malivore?" he demanded, still scrolling through the messages until he came across a picture and everything clicked into place. It was Hope with the boy in front of him, Landon. He was giving a hesitant smile that looked more like a grimace as Hope dazzled with a happy smile. Under it was a message asking Harry to come meet her new boyfriend.

"No, we haven't found anything."

That wasn't acceptable.

"I'm coming with the kid."

Landon was hauled to his feet with a firm grip on his bicep and Harry didn't give him a warning before apparating to Mystic Falls.

He would get his memory back and he would find a way to get his sister back. He would bend the laws of nature if he had to.

Always and Forever

* * *

When they land in the Headmaster's office, Alaric hurries over to Landon, checking him over for injuries, recent events shoved to the background in the face of this new concern.

Landon backs away, hands up in front of him. The last few months had been crazy but this was beyond that, "Just…What is going on!? Who is this guy? How did he know where Malivore was? And how did we get here!?"

Harry threw the boy an unconcerned look, going to the student records he knew were in Alaric's office.

"Hey! Mind telling me what's going on?! You haven't been to the school for years and now all of a sudden you just appear, with one of my students!?" Alaric demands. He didn't hate the boy but he also didn't have a decent relationship with most of his family so he had avoided him over the years. Only, Caroline was his friend so his presence wasn't unusual when she was here. "And why're you digging through school records?!"

Harry ignored him, flicking through all the M names. The file wasn't there. He tried summoning the file but nothing came!

That damn girl! She was covering her tracks to make it easier for everyone to move on. If there was no evidence of her, no one would be hurt by her absence. It was something he would do.

Throwing his hands onto the desk in front of him, Harry looked at the man who had conspired with his forgotten sister.

Alaric felt a shiver of fear travel down his spine, Harry reminding him of his father, of Klaus Mikaelson when he had terrorized the town all those years ago.

"My name is Harry Mikaelson and I want to know why my sister threw herself into Malivore and why you," he directed the last part to Alaric, "Helped erase her from the school records."

The name hit something in Landon's memory but he couldn't remember from where. "Mikaelson, isn't that some vampire's name?"

"Klaus Mikaelson was part of the Original Family of vampires. He was my father and he was a hybrid, making me and my sister tribrids. We are the only ones of our kind in the world. I love and would do anything for my family so I want to know why I can't remember my own sister!"

Objects began to vibrate and Alaric grits his teeth, having forgotten just how powerful the kid was. Well, he may still look like a kid but he wasn't, not anymore. He was a tribrid and the firstborn of Klaus. He held unimaginable power and just because he didn't use it very much, didn't make him any less dangerous.

"If it's true that your sister went into Malivore and now it's gone, maybe that was the only way to destroy it," Alaric tries to placate the angry/grieving tribrid.

Landon speaks up with the information he knew on Malivore, not sure how he knew it, "Malivore was created by three species: witches, vampires, and werewolves. Maybe the only way to destroy it was for," he glances hesitantly to Harry, "a tribrid to enter."

Magic always has to have a balance, something he had learned in the decades surrounded by it. If a triad of species created this beast, magic would require that only the triad could destroy it. If Hope had come to the same conclusion, she threw herself in there on nothing more than a hunch. But it had worked which meant she was gone.

But if she was gone and he had no memories – no, no no no – she was his responsibility, his to protect! He knew instinctively that Klaus had died for them both, had entrusted him with the safety of the youngest Mikaelson. He couldn't bear it if this was true. He had lost so much already, he couldn't lose this as well.

Tears fell on the desk as Harry struggled to contain his emotions. His hand coming up to press into his eyes, trying to force away the tears.

Alaric warily looked to Harry, mouthing to Landon to leave. He considered himself an expert on Mikaelson's and whenever one began to lose control of their emotions, people tended to die.

"Harry?" Alaric moved cautiously forward, eyes darting to his crossbow in the corner…just in case. Surprise crossed his face when he saw red dripping from the hand pressing into his eyes.

Harry refused to look up, trying to will the pain away as his other hand dug into the hard wood of the desk.

"Always and Forever isn't just something we say. The bond I had with my father…I wanted to _die_ when I lost him. It was like I lost a part of myself, the wolf searching desperately for its pack leader. I felt like I was losing my mind as it split in the emptiness." Harry looked up and Alaric recoiled at the sight of blood dripping from where his claws had cut into the skin around his eyes. Blood mixing with tears as his eyes changed from the calming green to the yellow of werewolf. "Do you know what it's like to feel the loss of someone you can't remember!? It feels like I'm being pulled in two! She's gone and I feel it but there's nothing! Nothing! I should have years of memories and there's nothing there!" he cried out.

Alaric took another step closer, trying to swallow in his suddenly dry throat. He needed to calm Harry down or else he could hurt someone and while he wasn't sure of his position as head of the school anymore, these kids were still his responsibility.

"I can't imagine what it is you're feeling but I know something about loss. And right now, there's a school full of students beyond this door so you _can't_ lose control." Nails dig deeper into his desk and Alaric winces, thoughts racing as he tried to calm the distraught kid. Because that's what Harry was right now, a kid who needed help, the reason why this school had been created. "I'll help you however I can but you can't lose control here. You have to stay strong. We have a whole school of books and artifacts, one of them has to hold answers."

Desperate eyes rose and froze him in place. There was desperation there, desperation Alaric knew meant he would do anything.

And then Harry disappeared with a crack, leaving nothing but blood and cracked wood in his wake.

His shoulders sagged and his chest heaved with the oxygen he hadn't realized he wasn't breathing.

He pulled out his own phone, scrolling through for any information on Hope Mikaelson. Why would he help erase her from the school, leaving no record of her existence here?

There had to be something.

* * *

Harry apparates to his home, digging through his trunk, throwing the contents to the floor, until he found the ring he had sworn never to touch again when it had reappeared to him years ago. He could already feel the temptation to use it, the insanity of wanting to know creeping in.

_Hope Mikaelson Hope Mikaelson Hope Mikaelson_

He turned it in his hand, concentrating on the name like a mantra. If she was really dead, she would appear to him. She would appear and he would beg her for forgiveness.

He stopped the mantra but couldn't bring himself to open his blood-soaked eyes. Couldn't bear to see his failure laid before him.

Swallowing his saliva turn molasses, Harry opened his trembling eyes, breath escaping his lungs as he collapsed to his knees, cries escaping him as his hand clenched at his heart.

There was no one there – Hope wasn't dead.

There was still hope, always hope.


	2. and we were born to break them

**What's up!? Here's the second part of this story. If you want to get in the mood or a feel of the relationship between Harry and Hope, take a listen to Shelter by Berlin Dash (feat. Roxanne Emery) which is also the inspiration for the title!**

* * *

Harry's life took a backseat to find Hope. He was a man possessed with purpose. He couldn't even remember what he had been doing before this. It consumed him.

After his breakdown at home, he knew he had to return to the Salvatore School. Landon was an integral part of all this if Malivore really was his father and if his sister really loved this boy as much as he could gather, he would make sure no harm came to him.

Alaric had welcomed him back to the school but he had soon discovered the man had been ousted as headmaster and he didn't know Dorian very well so he was a stranger in a strange place.

It was extremely awkward being in a school full of magical beings again. It reminded him of Hogwarts, the laughter and shenanigans in the hallways, the teenage drama in the corners, and the rivalries between different groups. Everyone was accepted here yet he felt out of place, an exhibit at a zoo the way they would gawk at him. He had seen quite a few of the students ogling him and while physically he was 22, he was actually thirty-six which made it very very awkward.

He was a tribrid, the most powerful creature in the world. He was truly immortal. That wasn't even considering his family and his history back home when he was a teenager. Yet teenage drama still seemed to be his crux.

The stares and whispers were something he did not miss. Back in New Orleans, everyone knew him and treated him like a normal person. He and Davina had tried their best to live out normal lives and for the most part, it worked. So coming here was a heavy weight but not one he couldn't handle.

The breaking and pulling he had felt when his memories were first wiped felt like it was being stitched back together the longer he stayed at the school. He theorized it was the magical saturation and the presence of the triad of creatures he was. His mind was mended enough that he could focus on a plan to get his memories back and save his sister.

To add to the teenage problems, he felt his wolf awaken the moment he entered the campus where he subsequently learned that a student, Rafael, was stuck in wolf form through a spell he recognized as a bastardized version of the spell used in New Orleans years ago. It was a specific spell that could only be reversed by the one who had given the ring. Which was another reason they needed to get Hope back. While he didn't have a pack of his own, he was still powerful enough to be recognized as an alpha, something Rafael instinctually recognized and came to him the first night Harry transformed. He created that bond with him and he knew the human part of him clung to the interaction, the socialization. He had seen how difficult it was for the Crescent Moon Pack to return to normal life after the curse had been lifted. If he could spare the kid some of that trauma, he would. Landon was his representative of sorts, talking over anything he remembered the last few months that might be helpful and Harry had grown to enjoy the awkward boy's presence. He wasn't like most kids his age and when he heard he was an orphan, transferred from foster home to foster home, with nowhere to belong, Harry understood that to a fundamental level. The feeling of not belonging, feeling out of place even in the supernatural world. He was a good kid.

He buried himself in the library during the day and ran with Rafael during the night. And between that time, he was searching for any evidence he could of Hope. There's no way she could erase her presence in an hour; Alaric had to have missed something of hers!

Weeks go by, the school year ends and with it, the quiet comes. He had always been one for sulking and what not but this was a bomb, ticking down the seconds, a deadline to the abyss.

Already, he had made a new trail in the woods with all the pacing and running he had done over the last few weeks as a wolf.

To add to his list of anxieties, he cursed when he discovered Landon had killed himself. He had learned the boy was a phoenix but he didn't know what made him different from Fawkes. Maybe he was just something else entirely because other than coming back to life, he had no other supernatural qualities which was rather strange.

He was at the Old Mill, drawing on old magic to try and break the lock on his memory when Rafael came barreling into the ruins, pawing at him to follow him. Thinking the school was under attack or something worse, Harry followed the wolf to the docks where the water was on literal fire and Landon was pulling himself up by the metal docking cleats.

Not giving the boy time to recover, Harry rushed to him, grabbing him by the throat and growling, eyes glowing their hybrid colours and teeth extending.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing!?" He throws the sputtering boy to the ground, advancing, "My sister gave her life to save yours and you turn around and try to kill yourself!"

Landon scrambles to his feet, teeth chattering, "That's not…I just thought…"

"Thought what? Dying would lessen the pain of not remembering!?"

Landon seemed to gain a backbone as he gathered his bearings and looked the angry tribrid in the eyes.

"I thought if I died, my memories would come back and I could remember what happened that night. That I could understand why Hope would sacrifice herself for me." _When no one ever has before_, was left unsaid. "I only got flashes, imprints of her."

"You saw her?" If Landon could get imprints of Hope, that meant his memory of her was still there, buried or locked away. And if it was there, that meant it could be brought back.

While it was progress, he couldn't have the boy keep killing himself. They didn't know the extent of his powers and he may not wake the next time.

Rafael whined and pawed at the ground, drawing his friend's attention and for the first time, a look of guilt crossed Landon's face at his actions.

Death did give him a place to start. Death was always dark magic which meant he had to tread the slippery slope of dark magic again to look for a cure.

How was this the greatest library on this side of the ocean and yet there was nothing on Malivore or a void creature? There was nothing that talked about a memory destroying monster. He had to tug at his hair in frustration! Malivore was good, its' followers destroying every piece of its existence, every record being erased as their enemies were thrown into the pit. In the throes of his frustration, he just knew his father would know what to do. Nik had always known what to do…or what to kill. That was a lie. They had survived the centuries because of Always and Forever, because of family.

His finger hesitated over his uncle's name. He had avoided them for the last few weeks. He was never the greatest at keeping secrets and he knew his family had come to the same conclusion as him…if the multiple missed calls and unanswered texts were anything to go by. He was actually surprised they hadn't hunted him down yet and demanded answers.

"Nephew."

Shit, Kol was pissed.

"Uncle Kol."

There was a sigh on the other end of the line and Harry knew he had avoided a major dressing down.

"What trouble have you gotten yourself into this time? I've had to fend off Bex and Freya with their insistent nagging and desire to come find you. I demand answers."

There was no beating around the bush. It had become easy for him to discern when his uncle wanted to play and when he was low on patience.

"You've forgotten someone, we all have."

"Yes, if you'd have answered your bloody phone, you'd know my darling wife and I were working on a counter-spell." There was silence on the other end, one that never meant anything good. "Who is she, this girl we've forgotten?"

It was a demand Harry had been dreading, the reason he had been avoiding his family as he tried to solve this by himself.

Biting his lip, he continued to pace back and forth while struggling to voice the words he needed but they kept getting caught in his throat. Kol was patient but the anxiety was building. He could already guess who the girl was, he had read the text messages they had exchanged months ago.

"Hope, my sister."

Hearing the confirmation was like taking a stake to the heart.

Once the words escaped, Harry couldn't stop.

"There was this creature, Malivore, it was attacking the Salvatore School. It was able to send creatures it had erased from the collective conscious, creatures the world had forgotten existed. Anything or anyone that entered Malivore is erased from memory."

"Malivore?" Kol asked in thought. He remembered hearing that name centuries ago but had brushed it off as a myth, a tale made to scare those of lesser power. But if those stories were true… "It was rumoured to have been created by the blood of a witch, a vampire, and a werewolf. A golem of sorts that had an unquenchable hunger."

There was rustling on the other end before a female voice came through a bit static-y; they must've switched to speakerphone.

"A binding spell of three species, especially one that strong, would require the same to break the bond. You said _was_ so this thing isn't alive anymore. But if the only thing needed to undo the magic was the blood of all three species…Hope destroyed it by letting it consume her."

It hadn't taken her long to arrive at the correct conclusion. Knowing magic and the limitations made it easy to come to this conclusion.

"That means…"

Ah, Kol understood the avoidance now. The familiar, age-old anger simmered in his chest. His niece had sacrificed herself to defeat this creature, knowing she would erase herself from the minds of her loved ones. More than that, she had saved Harry from making that sacrifice. He knew his nephew. He had a saviour complex. He would've sacrificed himself to save Hope. He knew this because his memories didn't make sense when he thought of the Hollow. He remembered Harry arguing that he was the only one who could handle it but he didn't remember who he was trying to take the Hollow from. Now it made sense.

"No. I know she's not gone and neither is Malivore. It's complicated but there's a boy here created from Malivore. I used his blood to create a tracking spell and every time I cast it, it tells me Malivore is in Mystic Falls. It doesn't make sense because the spell circles Mystic Falls like it's nowhere yet everywhere at once."

It's left unsaid that if he can't find Malivore, there was no chance of him getting Hope back.

He bites his lip again in nervousness but stops his pacing. The reason he had called his uncle and not his aunt was that he knew there was very little Kol didn't know about magic and Davina was one of the strongest witches he knew. He also trusted them unconditionally, something he still struggled with in Freya.

"I've been searching for weeks for an answer but I keep coming back to black magic and you know I can't go back down that road."

Harry sets the phone down, switching it to speaker as he moved to his spread out notes.

"That boy I mentioned, the one created from Malivore…he had the power to come back to life. He died recently but when he awoke, he saw flashes of Hope. The memories are still there and if we can break the barrier, there may be something that can help us find this monster and get her back."

He had completely bypassed the elephant in the room but Kol and Davina had come to the same conclusion. If Malivore was still alive, Hope had failed and if she had failed at destroying it, the only one who could was a fully realized tribrid: Harry. To stop this monster, Harry would have to sacrifice himself and in doing so would wipe all their memories of him. They couldn't let him do that, even if it meant going behind his back with Freya to find a solution.

Davina was the first to speak up, "All I've been able to find is a Shunning spell from the ancestors. It was used as the ultimate punishment for those who betrayed the coven: they would be wiped from the memories of the coven after having their magic stripped. But if the spell is black magic, we'll need to look elsewhere."

"If you're at that school look up a spell called _compos mentis_. It's used for those experiencing unresolved trauma. It acts as a shield in the subconscious to block the unwanted memories. We might be able to re-engineer a counterspell to take down barriers to the subconscious."

Kol remembers the kid he had met all those years ago and the insecurities he had, the need to save everyone, the fear of losing his family. It has been well over a decade and while he had grown into one of the most powerful beings in the world, those same fears dogged him. It was times like these that he wished his brothers were still alive. They had always been better at reassuring Harry, of calming his fears, while he was only able to teach him magic, grow his strength. But he had picked up a few techniques over the years.

"We'll fix this and destroy everyone responsible for tearing our family apart. I promise you!"

And Harry nodded, unseen on the other side of the call. While he may have all this power, sometimes he just needed to know that what he was doing was right. It was reassuring to hear the support of his family.

They hung up, promising to call back with any updates.

Davina worried that Harry was going to do something extremely questionable. She lifted an eyebrow at her husband who had contributed to Harry's reckless behaviour over the years. It wasn't a question of if but when.

Harry was a Mikaelson and he was just like his father, willing to turn the world upside down to get Hope back.

* * *

The days dragged on and the longer he went without progress, the more confidence he lost in himself. He was no closer to getting Hope or his memories back even with Kol and Davina's help. Every spell failed to break the barrier on their minds. There was some success, cracks forming and images and feelings slipping through but nothing substantial.

Harry dabbles in a spell he had read from a spellbook he had borrowed from Freya. It was a black magic spell, ironically enough, to purge black magic from someone. The only problem is, the spell is in Cantonese and he doesn't know how to speak it. And translating it into Latin risked unknown side effects. But he took the base properties of the spell and worked on creating his own. Creating spells wasn't his forte, Freya the one adding to the family grimoire the most – apparently, Hope as well.

The thing he had learned with magic over the years was that three-fourths of it was about intent and the other quarter was the correct incantation. Even powerful witches needed a conduit for powerful magic. A spell this powerful and intricate needed a conduit to ensure he didn't end up completely erasing his memories and that meant having the right words spoken in the right order at the right time. All he needed was a second confirmation that the spell could work before he tried it on himself, not heeding Kol's warning that the spell could backfire and erase the memories he was trying to bring back.

The lights are off, the only light coming from the burning candles. He sits himself in the ground in a meditative pose, pulling his concentration to this one task. When all he can hear is the soft exhale of his breath and feel the beat of his heart, Harry begins his chanting.

He feels a pounding in his head before having an, _oh shit_ moment and losing consciousness. He wakes up a few minutes later with a pounding headache but no memories. Punching the ground, he lets out a scream of rage. Defeated, he goes to sleep, burying his face in his pillow.

Like many of his nights, it is restless and filled with varying degrees of nightmares. But this night is different because he gets flashes of a girl and a voice. He wakes with a start, knowing that while the spell failed at bringing his memories back, it had weakened the barrier around them.

Reaching blindly for his phone, Harry pauses before pulling up his pictures on his device, scrolling through to confirm that it was Hope he had dreamed about last night. It was but instead of being the encouragement he needed, it was the opposite. It was over three months and this was his first breakthrough. It wasn't good enough!

And he was trying so hard, kept telling himself that he was a Mikaelson, there was nothing he couldn't do! Weeks went by and the hole she left only grew as he reminded himself of her pictures and texts and even listened to the few voicemails he had saved. His flat was littered in the years of Hope's life. From her paintings on his walls to the notes in his dresser drawer, her grimoire buried in the other spellbooks he had possession of, even his spare bedroom wasn't a spare bedroom. There were clothes and everything belonging to a teenage girl. He saw could see how much she struggled to move on from their father's death along with her mother's. Her paintings centred on their family, on the times they were whole and happy. She had clearly taken after Nik in her love for the arts as the room was filled with painting and drawing supplies.

And he thought that getting his memories, any type of memory, would make this easier, push him to fight harder but all it's done nothing but create a larger pit inside him to where he just wants to turn his emotions off to not feel it anymore.

Harry comes back to the present, a pit slowly taking over his heart as he pressed Kol's contact info.

Kol answers on the third ring, the time difference meaning nothing to the Original.

"Why do I have the sudden feeling you did something incredibly reckless?"

Harry chewed his bottom lip as he began gathering his supplies. He was heading to the boarding school after the call.

Kol let out a heavy sigh, "The spell didn't work? We have other options. Freya can help us…"

"No!" he raised his voice before lowering it to continue, "Don't get Freya involved. She has Nik to worry about. I don't want to cause her any trouble."

A silence fell over them, the way all their conversations seem to go nowadays.

"The spell wasn't a complete failure. A-a few of my memories came back as-as flashes. I thought _knowin_g that I was missing Hope meant the memories wouldn't hurt as bad, but I can't do this Kol. It hurts so bad! It feels like a black hole is swallowing me…I don't want to _feel_ like this anymore."

Kol sucked in a breath at the sudden confession. Harry had gone through dark times in the past but nothing like this, nothing that even made him consider turning his emotions off.

"And if I do get my memories of Hope back it'll mean nothing if I can't save her! Malivore is nowhere to be found and if we don't have a physical form we can't resue Hope! I can't – I can't live like that, Kol! I can't," he whispered as he collapsed to the floor, head on his knees as he breathed heavily. He couldn't save Hope just like he couldn't save his father.

"Harry?" Kol inquired when he heard nothing from the other end except aborted cries. "If you flip that switch, you won't like what you become. Just hold on a little long and I'll be there."

And that was it, that was the moment Kol knew he had to end his self-imposed exile from his family. He would suffer through a Mikaelson reunion because as much as he hated to admit it, they were stronger as a family. He couldn't save Harry by himself and there was no way he was going to let the boy spiral again. He needed Rebekah's help. They needed the power of another Mikaelson witch.

* * *

Harry pulls himself together after he ends his call, pulling his knapsack over his shoulder before apparating to the boarding school. The sun was fully risen but the dew still coated the morning grass. He could smell the humidity of the summer as it brought back memories of a time thought lost, when he had first come to this tiny town all those years ago, chasing his father.

Depositing his bag on the garden bench he had apparated next to, Harry took off at a run, transforming the moment he entered the woods. Everything is simpler as a wolf and it gives him time to calm his mind and process the overwhelming/utter absence of emotions he was currently facing. The last thing he needed was to breakdown like he almost had with Kol earlier. In all his years practicing magic, there had only been a few times he had truly felt helpless. He had always been unusually powerful and if he couldn't find a spell, his will alone was enough most of the time. It was like the Hollow all over again and he remembered how that ended and he refused to accept that again.

He feels the burn of his muscles as he pushed his body to the limit, sprinting through his trails as the sky turned to night and the star began appearing, panting as he took sharp turn after sharp turn, circling the school unconsciously, letting instinct take over this thoughts.

The moon had only been out for a quarter of an hour when he came to an abrupt stop, tail pointed and snout in the air, mind processing what he had caught a whiff of.

He smelled her the second she entered the grounds, how could he not?

It's like his initial meeting with Nik; the tug to family, the instinctual knowledge that this person was his. He may not have memories of her, but he will forever recognize her scent as family.

He goes sprinting towards her, can feel her running in his direction and it only drives him to move faster, magic pushed to his legs to give an extra boost. Heart beating out of his chest that this was actually real. Trees pass by him with no acknowledgment, his sole focus on getting to Hope as quickly as he could.

* * *

A laughing, relieved, choked out breath escapes her when she sees her brother bounding towards her at full speed, tackling her to the ground and showering her in kisses and concerned sniffs, his wolf form dwarfing her but she wasn't scared, she felt safe for the first time in a long time.

Hope embraced him, burying her face into his fur as she gripped handfuls of his fur, inhaling the familiar and comfortable smell. She had missed this. After an eternity with no one but Clarke and monsters, this was all she needed.

When he finally lets her up, he tugs on her sleeve gently with his teeth, leading her towards the school insistently.

She briefly wondered where Landon was before he came into her field of view at the start of the woods, having come to find Raf but freezing when he saw the girl with Harry.

Her breath caught and heart fluttered, wondering what he would do.

Harry leaves them, bounding into the school, no doubt looking to transform and get into clothes to continue their reunion.

"Landon," she breathes, stepping closer.

"Hope."

For one heartbreaking moment, she truly believed that he might remember her. Only, he stands there awkwardly, no recognition or undying love in his eyes.

"I know who you are, I mean, I've been helping Harry…but I see you when I die – that actually sounded really bad. Not that I try to die – what I'm trying to say is -?"

It is so endearing yet heartbreaking and Hope wants nothing more than to kiss her nervous boyfriend.

"Do you want to go find Harry?" she offers with a closed-lip smile that does not reach her eyes but was no less genuine because she was truly happy to see Landon.

Landon sighed in relief at the escape, feeling his heart flutter at the smile Hope gave him, heat rising up in his cheeks.

"Yes, please, yes, before I make an even bigger fool of myself."

They walk side by side into the school, Hope itching closer, fingers brushing across his.

"I really missed you. And I know you don't remember me and I would never force you to do anything but I want you to know that I thought of nothing but getting out of there to get back to you."

Landon turns to her, at a loss for words, before taking a chance.

He captures her lips in a surprised kiss that quickly turns heated as Hope pushes back into him, grabbing at his face to pull him closer as he tugs her in by her forearms.

They break apart when a cough draws their attention, highly embarrassed.

Harry looks at them, trying to be threatening like their father but he can't when Hope is just so happy, when he is just so happy!

Hope carries the excitement over to Harry when she runs into his arms, finally able to have him hug her back properly. They stayed that way for a long time, Landon standing off to the side, heart pounding for reasons he couldn't remember but he knew that he wanted to kiss Hope Mikaelson again and never leave her side.

"What'd ya say we head home? Uncle Kol's heading back to New Orleans and I'm pretty sure Rebekah's not too happy with me. I think between us three Mikaelson witches and Davina, we can break this memory spell of Malivore." Harry pulls back from the hug but keeps her in his arms. There was no way he was letting her out of his sight.

She gives him a wet smile, lips pressed together and eyes crinkled. After everything, all she wanted was to be around her family so she nods in agreement.

"Not that I'm not happy you're back but Raf is still a werewolf and –" Landon pips up awkwardly, hand half-raised before quickly bringing it down at the attention of the two.

"Oh my god! I didn't know he used the ring!"

Harry knew Hope felt immense guilt at the thought of having subjected Rafael to months trapped as a wolf.

"I kept him company so he wasn't too isolated but he'll be disoriented when he returns to normal. Maybe we can take him to New Orleans. Marcel and Rebekah are the only ones living in the Abattoir. It'd give him room and quiet to adjust back to a human life."

Landon stepped forward, hand raised again, this time with authority, "Wherever Raf goes, I go."

Harry raised an eyebrow and Landon hunched in on himself, taking a step back, suddenly sheepish.

"Of course you're coming, Kirby. If Hope's here, that means Malivore is still alive and seeing as you're someone he'll want, you'll be safer with me."

Landon gulped, suddenly wishing he had kept his mouth shut.

"Rafael is just beyond the perimeter. He keeps out of open spaces."

Harry led them away from the school, emitting an aura he had learned from his father. He was an alpha. He may not have a pack, but others knew his strength and submitted to him.

Rafael approached them in a low crouch, sniffing the stranger suspiciously before Hope approached him and cancelled the spell. Rafael appearing for the first time in months, a slight tremor in his frame.

Harry threw the backpack – they just now realized he was carrying – to the naked boy on the ground.

"Get dressed, we're going on a road trip," he states with a smirk, heart infinitely lighter than it was at the start of the day.

* * *

They run into a troll on their way out of the school, Harry and Hope taking it down together, giving each other a high-five as the brothers watch the two in horror. These siblings were monsters. They were mega strong and equally as scary.

All of that escapes Landon's mind though when Hope turns that bright, laughing smile to him and he just melts, giving her one of his own.

And Harry? Harry is just loving this moment, sending a picture to Kol, letting him know he was on his way to New Orleans with his sister in tow.


End file.
